IS BAPTISM NECESSARY FOR SALVATION? NO!

         

                   
By Paul Tatham       tatham47@hotmail.com               
 
Reference 

Mark 16:16
 
Passage
 
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
 
Problem
 
Is baptism part of salvation?  (Such a position is sometimes called "baptismal regeneration.")
 
Context
 
It's the last chapter of Mark's gospel.  Mark is giving some details of Easter Sunday. Then he goes into the Great Commission. In the Great Commission, Christ tells His followers to evangelize and seems to include baptism as part of His plan of salvation.
 
Explanation
 
In the preponderance of scripture, there is no mention of baptism being linked to salvation. Approximately 150 New Testament passages state that salvation is by faith alone. Only three passages in the Bible make the salvation-baptism connection. Just three!                          
 
1. Mark 16:15-16 says, "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."
 
2. Acts 2:38 says, "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
 
3. Acts 22:16 says, "And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord."
 
Scores of salvation verses never mention baptism. Not one Bible verse says that he who is not baptized is lost.  Nor is baptism ever mentioned as part of the gospel when the gospel is defined, such as in I Corinthians 15:1-4:
 
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
 
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures"
 
Water baptism is an outward expression of an inward change.  We get baptized because we want to tell the world about our faith in Christ.  It's a public declaration.
 
Water baptism is not necessary for salvation. As my father used to say, "Baptism doesn't make you a Christian; it marks you a Christian."  All Christians should be baptized, but baptism is not necessary for salvation.
 
In the Mark 16 passage, if unbelief is the only basis for condemnation, then it must follow that belief must be the only necessary ingredient for salvation.
 
To be consistent, if baptism were necessary for salvation, you would think the verse would add "but he that believeth not, 'and is not baptized,' shall be damned." 
 
But it doesn’t. This passage simply means that baptism is the expected outward expression of belief. Again, baptism is not a condition of salvation but a proclamation of salvation.
 
In the Acts 2 passage, the Greek rendering disassociates baptism as part of the remission of sins.
 
In the Acts 22 passage, Paul is addressing Jews at his defense in Jerusalem. Like the Acts 2 passage, where Peter is preaching his famous sermon to the Jews on the Day of Pentecost, there is a sense in which a Jew “washed away his sins” by disassociating himself from his Christ-rejecting nation by water baptism.
 
At baptism, a Jew repudiated the awful action his nation had taken when it killed its Messiah. It was a public declaration.
 
Baptism, in and of itself, did not save them, but it was a public admission that they—the Jews—had made a grievous mistake. Baptism saved them on the man-ward side.
 
This concept is similar to the teaching of the book of James, in which works saves us on the man-ward side while faith saves us on the god-ward side.
 
Following is further support for the view that baptism is not a part of salvation:
 
•    The thief on the cross was not baptized but he went to Heaven nonetheless (Luke  23:43)
 
•    Paul stressed the importance of preaching the gospel rather than baptizing (I Corinthians 1:17); he separates the two
 
•    No mention of baptism in Acts 3:19--Peter is preaching: "Repent [only], that your sins may be blotted out"
 
•    The Gentiles in Caesarea were baptized after they were saved (Acts 10:44-48)
 
That speaks volumes!                      
 
So why was the Lord Jesus Christ baptised? Although not explained in scripture, Christ was baptized probably to set an example for all those who would follow Him as their Lord and Savior.

Why do people reject Jesus as their Savior?

The decision to accept or reject Jesus as Savior is the ultimate life decision. Why do many people choose to reject Jesus as Savior?           
 
There are perhaps as many different reasons for rejecting Christ as there are people who reject Him, but the following four reasons can serve as general categories:

1) Some people do not think they need a savior. These people consider themselves to be “basically good” and do not realize that they, like all people, are sinners who cannot come to God on their own terms. 

But Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Those who reject Christ will not be able to stand before God and successfully plead their own case on their own merits.

2) The fear of social rejection and persecution deters some people from receiving Christ as Savior. The unbelievers in John 12:42-43 would not confess Christ because they were more concerned with their status among their peers than doing God’s will. 

These were the Pharisees whose love of religious positions and the esteem of others blinded them, “for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.”

3) For some people, the things that the present world has to offer are more appealing than eternal things. We read the story of such a man in Matthew 19:16-23. This man was not willing to lose his earthly possessions in order to gain an eternal relationship with Jesus (see also 2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

4) Many people are simply resisting the Holy Spirit’s attempts to draw them to faith in Christ. Stephen, a leader in the early church, told those who were about to murder him, “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!” (Acts 7:51). The apostle Paul made a similar statement to a group of gospel rejecters in Acts 28:23-27.
 
Whatever the reasons why people reject Jesus Christ, their rejection has disastrous eternal consequences. “There is no other name under heaven given to men by which

we must be saved” than the name of Jesus (Acts 4:12), and those who reject Him, for whatever reason, face an eternity in the “outer darkness” of Hell where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:30).